Hurting for Good?: Loving Life?

“For, ‘Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.’ ” (1 Peter 3:10)

If you’re reading this passage out of the NIV, you’ll notice a header at the top of the section: “Suffering for Doing Good.” Peter is writing to people who have or will likely experience suffering for expressing their faith in Jesus. Spoiler alert: He’s going to tell them — and us — to live right even when life hurts so that we can point people to our hope in Jesus.

But right in the middle of that teaching, he quotes David’s Psalm 34: “Whoever would love life and see good days.” What? I thought we were talking about suffering. Sure, we can grit our teeth and do good even when life is hard — but isn’t it a bit much to expect to “love life” and “see good days”?

Peter says no. Lousy external circumstances do NOT have to determine our internal state of mind. Like Paul, who said he’d learned the secret of contentment in good and bad times, Peter says “good days” have more to do with my heart choices than what happens to me from the outside.

Think: Why do you think saying evil things and telling lies kills our love for life and ruins our good days?

Pray: Ask God to help you love life and see good days by telling the truth and saying unevil things.

Do: Make two lists: three hurtful things and/or lies you said this last week — and three helpful things you said. How did your words help or hurt your days?